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"Huff! Huff! Oh... my... God! Huff! Got to get away from her! Wh-why are they doing this to us?! To me?...just leave me... alone! Leave... me... a-- NOOOO!" Carl Sands says to himself as he runs down a black corridor before he runs into Manhunter. "Where do you think you're going?" Kate tells Carl, holding up her staff. "Five minutes ago, my car was blown up. Three minutes ago I fished the briefcase containing my costume from the melting inferno that used to be my BMW. I guess the folks who want Shadow Thief dead are after Kate Spencer, too. Needless to say: I'm pissed." Kate thinks to herself. "Her again? Why won't she leave us alone?!" states Carl before turning around to see Cheshire standing there. "It looks like you're popular with all the ladies, Carl. Aren't you going to introduce me to your red friend?" Cheshire asks. " Cheshire ? Didn't she nuke a country before? What happened to the lame-o guys like Shrapnel? Why the huge leap up the supervillain food chain?" Kate thinks to herself. Cheshire says, "I'll have to charge my employer extra to kill both of you." Kate then fires a blast from her staff, making the roof fall behind Cheshire .

"Oh dear, you seem to have boxed us in together. You are new at this, aren't you? Too bad you won't get a chance at improvement!" Cheshire tells Kate right before she jumps toward her. Carl, stuck under some debris says that he hopes that they kill each other as Cheshire slashes Kate's face with her poisoned nails. "Man, that stings. What did she dip those talons in, anyway? Whatever it is, it can't be good. Gotta end this soon..." Kate thinks to herself before head butting Cheshire in the nose. "You look a bit unsteady there. Soon your heart will stop beating and your lungs will close up. Your nervous system will be shutting itself down. A textbook reaction to Black Mamba venom." Cheshire states to Kate before she gets up and runs toward her. Cheshire continues to tell her that she will have more than enough time to get back at her for the bloody nose when Kate pushes a button on her staff. "You've only got... one shot at this, Kate... Hope those fingernails didn't just... feel like metal..." Kate thinks just as ten fingernails rip out of Cheshire' s fingers... "Guess not." Cheshire screams in pain and then climbs her way out telling Kate that she won't forget this. "So, Shadow Thief, or do you... mind if I call you Carl? What are we... gonna d with you... now?" states Kate as she slowly walks up to Carl. "Kill me if you must. I'm not afraid anymore." Carl tells her. Kate tells him not to be such a drama queen and fires a blast from her staff at the rubble pinning Carl down. "As much... as I'd like to... take you out right now... you're... their problem!" Kate says as she picks Carl up and tosses him in front of some Police Officers. The Police yell at Kate to put down her "magic wand" but she instead fires a blast that allows her to fly away.

North Hollywood. The Sun Valley Industrial Park . "So, what was that powder? Human bones? Crack? Granulated sarin gas?" asks Ted Shoemaker to a technician working at Omnitech. "Nope. Just plain old dust and dirt." he tells him. Ted says huh, and the technician goes on saying, "Plain old dust and dirt that has been ionized by an electromagnetic pulse, mind you. But plain old dust and dirt none-theless." "Pretend like you're talking to a layman reporter and not one of your gaming pals, ok?" Ted tells him. "Funny, Ted. Ionization, like what happened to that dust, only happens from exposure to extremely high concentrations of electromagnetism. Like that of a neutron bomb." The tech explains. Ted asks then why wasn't the building that he got the dust from in pieces and the tech told him, "Because neutron bombs only work on organic matter. Leaves the structure intact, kills folks dead." "Curiouser and curiouser..." Ted says as he walks out of the room.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK Dylan hears has he is woken up. "Hold on... Jeezus!... What time is it anyway? OK, buddy, this better be--" Dylan says as he walks to his door and opens it. "Hey ya... Dylan... could... use a little... help here..." Kate says before she collapses into Dylan's arms. "Oh, geez! Kate? Hey, can you hear me?" Dylan says as he drags Kate over to his couch. Dylan begins to talk out-loud to himself saying, "What are you gonna do here? Can't call 911... Crap, do I have a first-aid kit? Do I even have band-aids?" "Dylan, baby, who you talkin' to?" "uh-oh. It's nothing, uh... something with a "J", right?... uh, Jennifer!" Dylan says to someone in the bedroom while picking up ladies clothing. "It's "Juniper" remember?" says a girl wrapped in a sheet. Dylan gives Juniper her clothes and rushes her out of the house and then goes back over to Kate. "Man, you are burning up! What happened to you?" Dylan says, then Kate mumbles black mamba and Dylan says, "I had to ask."

"Thor? Where are you boy?" a Mailman says as he puts some mail into a mailbox. "Mr. Richards? You there? I brought Thor some treats. Hope you don't mind." says the Mailman as he walks up the steps to the front door. He sees the door smashed into pieces and asks, "What happened here? Mr. Richards? Dear Lord in Heaven..." the Mailman says as he looks into the home of Dan Richards, and sees him hung up by a rope with all his pictures and newpaper clippings attached to him with all the faces X'ed out.

"Uhhh. My head feels like it's stuffed with hornets. What happened last night? Better question: Where am I? And I'm in my underwear. Isn't this the plot of an Ashley Judd movie?" Kate thinks as she wakes up. "Morning, sunshine! Glad to see you made it. How about a little breakfast in bed? Breakfast on couch, actually. Anyway, how are you feeling?" Dylan asks Kate. "Dylan?! OHMIGOD--! Last night, did I-- did we?" Kate says grabbing the blanket and covers herself up. "Relax. Unfortunately we did not have relations. No fluids we exchanged. Well, fluid was exchanged, just not-- anyway, nothing happened." Dylan explained. "Then what did?" Kate asked. Dylan started to explain, that when she showed up on his doorstep and passed out after mumbling about a black mamba, he went and found some "Mega-antivenom" he had left over from working with Kobra. He continued saying, "Lucky for you I never throw anything away, huh". "I don't get it. I was scratched by Cheshire. Isn't she the world's deadliest assassin? how am I not dead?" Kate asks. Dylan answers, "My guess is where Copperhead scratched you, it was like an inoculation. Y'know you built up some snakey-immunity or tolerance or something." "And I thought there were no fringe benefits to vigilantism..." Kate says jokingly, then asks what time it was and Dylan answers 8:15 am. Kate tells Dylan that she needs to use his shower and Dylan says, "You're welcome."

"Well, Mr. Matthews? Is Ms. Spencer coming, or isn't she? It's not like her to waste the Court's time." asks the Judge to Damon who answers, "Your Honor, Permission to approach?", "All right." Damon explains to the Judge, "After last night's "incident" in the parking lot, Ms. Spencer had to make new transport arrangements this morning. I'm fairly sure she's just running a few minutes late. I have back-up..." Just then Michael Johnson turns and looks at the door and says softly to himself, "Please get here! I'm only a Law clerk!" The Judge asks Damon, "You're "fairly sure"? Mr. Matthews, have you-- has anyone-- spoken to Ms. Spencer since the car bombing?" Damon begins to answer, "You see, your Honor, I--" The Judge interrupting Damon saying, "Save it, Counselor. I should have postponed the trial the moment I heard about the attacks. Ms. Spencer obviously needs to..." Kate walks into the Courtroom interrupting the Judge telling him, "What I need, your Honor--is your forgiveness for running so late. I am fully prepared to continue with the proceedings." "Are you sure, Counselor? No one would think less of you if you need a day or two." the Judge states to Kate. Kate says, "I appreciate the Court's concern, but I am fine, your Honor." The Judge asks Joshua Logan if there was a problem, and Josh states that if counsel feels able, they have no objections. The Judge tells Kate to call her next witness, and Kate says, "Your Honor, the people call Mrs. Felicity Smoake-Raymond." "Objection! This witness has no discernible ties to Firestorm and can offer no expert testimony relevant to this case!" Josh states. Kate tells the Judge that she intends to prove Mr. Logan wrong and the Judge allows the witness.

"Mrs. Raymond, please tell the court your relationship with regard to Firestorm." Kate asks. "My husband Ed had a teenage son, Ronald, when I first met him. Ronald... Ronnie's mother died when he was little and it took him a while to warm up to me. More typical teenage angst than anything else. Anyway, Ronnie had a friendship with one of his Professors, Dr. Martin Stein, and Ed thought their closeness was strange. I figured out what exactly was going on with Ronnie and Dr. Stein and confronted Ronnie about it. Ronnie asked me to keep his secret for a while longer until he could tell Ed. Then the day came where Ronnie finally told his father the truth." Felicity states and then Kate asks, "Which was?" "That he-- and Dr. Stein-- were Firestorm." Felicity answers. Kate then asks if Ronnie transformed into Firestorm in front of her and if he explained what his powers were, Felicity answered yes to both questions.

A Reporter covering the case, states, "Mrs. Raymond went on to tell the Court how Ronnie Raymond and the late Dr. Stein fused into the Super-hero Firestorm, and how her stepson continued as the Super-hero after Dr. Stein's death. Experts say this caused blow to the Defense, as it revealed the rarely seen human side of the Super-hero equation." The Reporter then states that Court is returning to session.

"Mr. Raymond, you were Ronnie's Father?" Kate asks the older man at the stand. "He is still my son, even if he's gone. He was such a good kid. He wasn't in the game for accolades. He had been Firestorm for years before I found out. Hell, Firestorm even saved my life a few times, too." Mr. Raymond said. He went on saying, "I wish I had known sooner. Instead of thinking he was out smoking weed and raising hell, I would've known he was risking his life to help others. All those lunatics after him: Killer Frost, Multiplex, that Hyena creature... He carried the weight of protecting us all like it was nothing. Never once complained. Even when he was fighting leukemia, he never stopped. H-he just... He just bore the-the responsibility and-and-and now he's-- he's... my poor boy-- I'm sorry, I, I--" "It's ok, Mr. Raymond. I think every parent-- every person in this room feels you pain. Please accept my deepest sympathies. Nothing further." Kate tells Mr. Raymond and the Court. Mr. Raymond thanks Kate and Josh states that he has no questions.

After the trial session was over, Kate answered some questions by some reporters outside the Courthouse. One reporter asks if Kate thinks that the emotional testimony will sway the jury, which Kate answers that she would find it hard that no one would be moved. A second reporter asks Kate, "How did you get the family to go public with Firestorm's secret identity?" Kate answers, "The Raymonds want their son remembered for who he was: a selfless hero-- and I refuse to allow the Justice System to do what they so often do: forget the victim. Thank You--" Just then a TV blows up by three arrows. "Dammit, Merlyn! What in the hell did you do that for?" Monocle asks. "That Lawyer ticks me off. I wanna take her out, too." Merlyn answers. "That ship has sailed, apparently. We are only here to deal with Carl." Monocle states. Merlyn says, "Yeah, but if a stray arrow just, I dunno, pierced her heart, that would just be collateral damage-- right?" Monocle tells Merlyn to do what he wants, that he always does anyway, which begins a verbal argument between them that only stops when someone transports into the room.





"Boys, boys, boys! Can't we all just get along and have some fun?"




"Phobia!" Monocle says.




"Friggin' A we can!" Merlyn states.




To be continued

Characters:

Kate Spencer/Manhunter (Federal Prosecutor)
Dylan Battles
Dan Richards (Manhunter I - dead)
Damon Matthews (Assistant Federal Prosecutor)
Michael Johnson (Law Clerk)

Juniper
Joshua Logan (Public Defender)
Felicity Smoke-Raymond
Ed Raymond
Ronald "Ronnie" Raymond (Firestorm- flashbacks)

Carl Sands (Shadow Thief)
Cheshire
Ted Shoemaker (Tabloid Reporter)
Killer Frost (Flashback)
Multiplex (Flashback)
Merlyn
Monocle
Phobia

Unnamed Police Officers
Unnamed TV Reporter
Unnamed Judge
Unnamed Mailman
Unnamed Omnitech Technician

Issue summary written by: glguardian (Tad Dupre)